Africa's path to press freedom goes online

Fifty years ago, development journalism helped to silence dissenting voices:
One had to rally to the fathers of the nation for the sake of national unity.
Accordingly, the legacy of these 50 years of Francophone media in Africa is freedom of the press and opinion. Journalists prod the
elites, who are allergic to criticism, and require that they account for their handling
of power and assume responsibility in the face of the various scandals they cause.
Recently in Burkina Faso for instance, a government minister had to resign
after the print media revealed his extramarital affair with a married
woman. This was unthinkable a few years
ago.

When I was a child in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and as far
as I can remember, I was always fascinated by journalists at work covering wars
and disasters, investigating and uncovering the exploits and misdeeds of intrinsically
good or bad people. I also held the highest esteem for journalists who, for me,
were well-rounded and savvy in prodding their guests. For me, journalism was the ideal job and it still is.

However, in 1998, while I was a first-year
student in journalism at the University of Ouagadougou, the murder of Norbert Zongo opened my eyes and made me realize that the job was actually full of pitfalls. Then,
I realized that the struggle for press freedom
and respect for rules upholding the pillars of sustainable democracy required solidarity,
vigilance and commitment, especially from journalists and civil society
organizations. In fact, students at the University of Ouagadougou were the first to
denounce the murder of Zongo and to take to the streets to protest.

I also realized that a
journalist never works in vain. The Zongo tragedy inspired at least half a
dozen investigative news outlets to emerge and Blaise Compaore's regime seemed to realize it could no longer kill
journalists. Notwithstanding this recognition, the administration's actions
against the media have become much more subtle. Journalists are often summoned
to military police headquarters, remanded in custody, targeted with libel
lawsuits, and sentenced
to pay fines. Such a situation demands a
redefinition of struggle strategies and calls on journalists to be more alert.

In this struggle to
safeguard free expression and obtain more freedom, the African Francophone press
has abandoned its companion in the struggle of the 1990s--the people. Following the
euphoria of the wind of democratic openness in the 1990s, much of the Francophone
press teamed up with political and economic elites. Such associations led to a
disconnection with the people. Nowadays, almost all the media is covering nearly
the same issues on politicians and other economic figures. As a consequence and
general finding we are witnessing institutional journalism consisting in covering
seminars, conferences, praising high-ranking people, whereas more than 90
percent of Burkina Faso's population lives in the rural areas.

However, there is an
opportunity for members of the news media to move closer to the people. The Internet,
much criticized by newspaper owners because they are losing their already
undersubscribed readership, seems to be one of the solutions. Unfortunately, there are very few blogger journalists in
Francophone Africa and particularly in Burkina Faso.

It is sometimes difficult for journalists to
meet their goals because of the existence of inadequate
regulations. In most Francophone
African countries, the media is still calling for the decriminalization of
press offenses, a less repressive press law and access to sources, particularly
administrative documents. In 2007, I was "denied" access to a report on the
partial assessment of the meningitis epidemic that was then prevailing in the
country by one of the departments of the Ministry of Health. After several unsuccessful attempts, a search on the
Internet and a few clicks on the site of an international organization allowed me
to have access to the report.

Thanks to the press, the ideology of
transparency and accountability is beginning to force the elites to adapt to
the public scene. Thus, the press is gaining
status and power. Of
course, we have to do "capacity-building" as we
commonly say today, but this is surely the biggest benefit.

Ramata Soré has been a journalist with L'Evénement, a
bimonthly published in Ouagadougou, since 2001. She is the recipient of several awards for her
reporting and has been running a blogsince 2005. The is the last in a CPJ Blog series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of colonial
rule in Francophone Africa.

Comments

I am glad to read this article.Of course the struggle for press freedom required solidarity amont the population. Unfortunatly our people are still starving and they will accept anything to nothing. I found a new website. I believe Africa is getting better since those event you have mentionned above: In senegal Seneweb.com is one of the site to illustrated this press freedom. In Burkina Faso, i just run through some sites and among them Le Faso.net and a new one burkina24.com seems to be very popular. I hope this press freedom will be substainable for all., God bless africa